63 days ago

The mission of the Common Wealth Time Bank is to strengthen the resilience of Sarasota and Manatee counties by spurring social entrepreneurship and fostering greater local interdependence.

The Common Wealth Time Bank provides a venue for you to share what you love with those in your community and be rewarded for doing so. By living and working from the place where our skills, passions, and values intersect, we can cultivate a true “economics of happiness” for ourselves and others.

The Common Wealth TIme Bank also seeks to bring value to the typically undervalued in our society. As Time Banks USA founder Edgar Cahn has jokingly put it:

"All of our economic planning omits at least a third of the map. It omits an economy that I think you need to be aware of. It's called home, family, neighborhood, community, civil society. It probably doesn’t do anything important from the point of GDP (Gross Domestic Product). It just raises children, makes neighborhoods safe and vibrant, raises strong families, takes care of the elderly, gets involved in things like elections, tries to make democracy work, tries to hold officials accountable, fights for social justice, tries to keep the planet sustainable, but nothing of economic importance, you understand."

By embracing what Cahn calls “the core economy,” we can begin to foster greater levels of health and vibrancy throughout our community and regain the freedom to shape our own economic future, even in difficult times.

To sign up and get started, simply click ¨Create a New Account¨ to your right and fill out the form. Because anonymity is not conducive to community development, please use your real first and last name as your username.